Transcription is a book that I stepped away from thinking, “Wow, what a good book”, but in retrospect, it’s hard for me to pinpoint exactly why I enjoyed it so much. Kate Atkinson just has a way of writing that sucks you in and puts you in a sort of trance. I’ve been struggling with reading slumps lately, particularly being able to sit down and read a book for an extended period of time. But I sat down and read the last half of this book in one sitting while completely losing track of time.

Two other reasons I enjoyed this book so much were the main character, Juliet, and the historical setting. I found Juliet to be very relatable. She was a girl thrown into an unimaginable situation (at 18, she finds herself working as a spy for MI5 during WWII) who handled things as well as she knew how. And there was no pomp and circumstance associated with her. She wasn’t portrayed as some brave heroine valiantly fighting the good fight; she was just a young woman doing what she viewed as her job. Sometimes, she seemed a little too unemotional, but considering her circumstances and the time she was living in (chin up and all that sort of thing), I think this ultimately helps to make her more realistic.

In terms of the time period, it’s clear that Atkinson has done her research. I felt the same after reading Life After Life. She has a way of realistically evoking the time period without shoving it down your throat. It’s the subtle details and language that you don’t even notice that completely draw you into the setting.

This is only the second Atkinson I’ve read, and I think I’m gonna have to remedy that soon now that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed both of these books

Kate Atkinson's newest book (her 11th) was, for me, not as quick a read as so many thrillers can be. Why? Because I was constantly slowing down to admire the acerbic asides from the young heroine, Juliet Armstrong, who, in the 1940s, works in a junior but important capacity at MI5. In that shady world of espionage, she learns "to read between the lines. But wasn't that where the most important things were said?"
Juliet's descriptions of people caught my fancy as well. Here are just a few: "forlornly earnest about even the most trivial things" or "having a trolled look, as if he had been put together from leftovers." And, when she attempts to cook Mediterranean, she can only find a tiny bottle of olive oil at her local chemist who helpfully suggests it will soften ear wax. Oh my.
Sometimes I reread a sentence or paragraph, just for the pleasure of the wordplay.
Skip ahead to the 1950s and Juliet is working as a radio producer at the BBC's Schools Program--across the street from the much more grand Broadcast House. A rather mundane and apparently safe job. And she is living a small life--until her secret past comes back--threatening and endangering her work and, indeed, her life. OK. That's when I started turning the pages a bit faster. It was already midnight and I absolutely had to find out what happened next--before my red and scratchy eyes gave out.
Well done, Kate. Brava.

This is another wonderful historical fiction novel from Kate Atkinson. I recommend you take your time with this one as there are lots of characters to keep track of and three different time periods. If you rush through it you will likely become confused, but if you savour it you will be able to appreciate the author's wonderful writing style and ability to capture another time and place.

There are many pleasures to be had in this most recent novel by the always interesting Kate Atkinson. Not the least of them is the  voice of the narrator, Juliet Armstrong, whose acute observations and wry commentary make the book sometimes laugh-out-loud funny.

This is a Chinese puzzle of a book; it is framed by brief scenes in a hospital in 1981, when Juliet has been hit by a car (no spoiler, this happens in the first couple of pages). It then jumps to 1950, where Juliet is a producer for the BBC Schools Service, and then to 1940, when the then eighteen-year-old Juliet is recruited by MI5, not, to her disappointment, as a bona-fide spy, but for her secretarial skills. Her job is to transcribe meetings between an agent working under cover as a Fifth Columnist and the various fascist agents he has contact with. This happened in real life, and Atkinson tells us in her afterword that the actual transcripts were the inspiration for this novel. But, as Juliet thinks to herself, "History should always have a plot .... How else could you make sense of it?"

However, one of the epigraphs of the novel is a quote by Winston Churchill: "In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies." At one point, when she resigns herself to a less exciting job than she had hoped, Juliet thinks to herself "Choice, it seemed, was one of the first casualties of war"; so, of course, if we correct her misquotation, is truth. No one and nothing are quite what they seem: one character tells her "It's all a front, darling," and her internal response is "But then wasn't everything?"

But to focus on the thematic aspects of the work is to take away from its comedy. It is almost a comedy of manners; one pictures the characters in Philip Larkin's "old style hats and coats" acting in a black and white Ealing comedy, with a script by Noel Coward. Hardly a page goes by without an amusing aside or editorial commentary from Juliet's inner voice. One particular favourite is when a pedantic teacher quizzes her on word derivation: "'Hypocaustum from the Ancient Greek - hypo meaning beneath and caust burnt. Which word do you think we get from that?'  'I have no idea,' she said, caustically."

This is not a novel that tells a straight-forward story of wartime derring-do; it is something more complex, but cloaked in a light tone and featuring mishaps and misadventure. Most importantly, it is an exploration of story-telling, of information and mis-information. At a climactic point in the narrative, one character declares "Come now, quite enough of exposition and explanation. We're not approaching the end of a novel, Miss Armstrong." But of course they are.

I was provided an advance copy of this novel by NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

A nice well-written historical fiction espionage mystery. Atkinson delivers again. Juliet is working for MI5 and gets drawn into the world of spys...

I absolutely LOVED this novel about espionage in WWII Britain. The surprise ending didn't disappoint, rather it made the novel more persuasive. It's clear that Ms. Atkinson did a lot of research on this novel. She includes an extensive bibliography of texts on M15 (the British spy agency) and the BBC (the British Broadcasting Corporation) that she used when writing the book; the appended bibliography is more extensive than some bibliographies in nonfiction books! This is the perfect book to learn a little about British espionage, WWII, and the BBC. Highly recommended!

Another satisfying read from Atkinson, full of her trademark witty wordplay and resonances. My only complaint, as mentioned by a previous reviewer, was that it was a little challenging to keep track of the full cast of characters, especially as several of them came with more than one name attached. But that's probably on me, as I wolfed this down greedily instead of taking careful note of each figure as they were introduced. I also encountered a few gaps in my e-book ARC - not just time lapses, but actual missing paragraphs. I intend to read this again once it is published and give it the full attention it deserves.
(With thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown & Co. for providing a free ARC in return for an unbiased review.)

Kate Atkinson's Transcription is a strange little book. Although the novel opens in 1950, we are quickly thrust back to 1940, when eighteen-year-old Juliet begins working for a branch of MI5. She is idealistic, but aware that she doesn't always meet her own standards.

She has recently lost her mother, and a sense of abandonment is part of her personality. She is also young and longing for romance and excitement.

Her job as a transcriptionist, however, is boring, but when she does have the opportunity to become more involved, Juliet realizes there is still plenty of dull mixed in with the tension and danger.

Most of the book is slow and anything but a thriller, and Atkinson probably did this on purpose. There is sly humor throughout, especially the kind of bitter/sweet/amusing sections with Juliet imagining the possibility of romance with the wrong man.

When the war is over, Juliet moves on with her life and by 1950 is a radio producer with the BBC. She discovers that the past is not always past.

An overarching theme of deception, duplicity, and the masks people wear permeates the novel. Some of the references are obvious, some made me curious about different applications, but I was not expecting one central duplicity. In the concluding chapters, the suspense mounts (finally), and traitors are revealed.

I admit that I found a majority of the novel slow and despite the fact that the slow pace is intentional and despite the many amusing and witty comments and scenarios, I felt myself wading through three quarters of the book waiting for...something. But that something arrived, and the conclusion and the Author's Note which follows made everything worthwhile.

Transcription is a curious book. It is not a thriller, as you might expect, but it is book that ambushed me at the end and one I can't quit thinking about.

Read in August. Blog review scheduled for Sept. 9.

NetGalley/Little, Brown, and Company
Historical Fiction/Espionage. Sept. 25, 2018. Print length: 352 pages.

I am a Kate Atkinson fan, but it took me a long while to get into this book. Juliet, a transcriptionist for MI5 during World War II, ends up doing a whole lot more than just transcribing. As usual, Atkinson creates some unusual characters and works to bring the time period alive, but I found it hard to connect with anyone. I didn’t quite empathize with anyone and while you know that something big is going to happen, it’s difficult to care. Still, it was interesting to read about the motivations and feelings of people caught up in the war.

Thanks, NetGalley, for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This just didn't hold my attention. I wasn't able to finish it. It felt very formulaic--there are so many books about British spies in WWII, and it didn't feel like this was breaking any new ground.

Spy novels aren’t typically my thing but I am fan of Kate Atkinson and her writing style, so I was excited to see this was available on NetGalley! I love stories set during WW2 and was quickly drawn in to this story and its setting. I wanted to take my time with this one but quickly tore through it! Kate Atkinson fans and hopefully new fans will love this one!

Transcription, by Kate Atkinson is a strong novel about the long enduring consequences of war. Juliet Armstrong worked for the British M15 division of WWII, and set in a reverse timeline we uncover who Juliet has been and the decisions she has made at various points in her life. Although at points I found this book to be a bit confusing and uninteresting, the book was extremely well written and in the right hands would be a powerful book about the extraordinary things people were forced to do during the war.

*Thank you to NetGalley and LittleBrown for the advanced readers copy of this book, #Transcription #NetGalley

Kate Atkinson has the gift of drawing the reader wholly into the world she creates, even or especially when it's mundane. The monotony of Juliet Armstrong's work for MI5 juxtaposed with the looming escalation of war & a shocking burst of violence was a bit disorienting, but when I wasn't reading this, I found I couldn't stop thinking about it. I loved Juliet. Heaven save me from that twist ending, though.

Kate Atkinson in Transcription leads the reader into the world of spies in WWII London. It is well written and brings to light the role of women in the war. She also brings us to the time after the war when the main character works at the BBC. No one is whom they present themselves to be. I found the book interesting and enlightening. However, I struggled at times and when the main characters found themselves in a difficult situation and needed to get rid of a body, I found it all a bit slapstick.

Intriguing and suspenseful novel about British MI5 in the aftermath of WWII. Well-drawn characters, well-articulated dialogue and quite a few twists along the way, especially at the end.

Kate Atkinson never disappoints. I could not put this down. It is a fine description about how ordinary people do extraordinary things when called upon. Although so many books about WWII are being written now, this is one literary thriller I would definitely recommend. The writing is taut and the characters well-drawn. It proved to me once again that I could never be a spy/mole as I kept changing my mind about who were the good guys and who were not!!

In a world recently inundated with WWII fiction, I won't say that Transcription stood out as exceptional for me. However, there was witty dialogue, as well as clever one-liners and sharp characters. I imagine Kate Atkinson fans will adore it, but for me it was just so-so. Thank you, at any rate, for the advanced reader copy.

In 1950 World War II came back to haunt Juliet Armstrong. Juliet transcribed meetings of an operative and German sympathizers and may have participated in an undercover mission herself. Now strange things are happening and she finds herself in danger due to her past. As she tries to survive she reviews her past to figure out who is out to make her pay.

Transcription, by Kate Atkinson, is compelling story that unfolds in layers, adding complexity and ambiguity to the narrative and the main character, Juliet Atkinson, who we meet at various points in her life. This complexity forced me to reevaluate assumptions about Juliet as the story progressed. I enjoyed how Atkinson’s sly exposition threw me off balance throughout. I also appreciated a moving look at how ordinary people took on extraordinary roles during the second world war. Highly recommended.

What do y’all do when you don’t like a book? Post/not post? Consider yourself warned, mho follows. Best I can do is give some reasons why this one didn’t work for me.
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In 1981 Juliet Armstrong has been hit by a car (not a spoiler, it’s the first paragraph of the book).
In 1950 Juliet has a career in broadcasting—an educational branch of the BBC.
In 1940 Juliet has been recruited to prepare a transcription. She sits in a listening room while next door a group of German sympathizers meet and talk with (unknown to them) a British agent.
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The book moves on a reverse timeline from 1981 to the war years and then returns to 1981. I found myself rereading a big chunk of the book to get the story straight. I really wanted to like this book but my preference is strongly for linear/chronological delivery and I just didn’t get why this was broken up and out of order.
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There’s also a tongue-in-cheek aspect to part of the book that tended to pull me out of the story. Somehow it made the whole seem a little farcical. British repartee? I need someone to explain Kate Atkinson to me.
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Thank you to NetGalley and
LittleBrown for this #advancereaderscopy
Pub date: 9/25/18